This year the Open University’s Spaces & Places conference will address the theme of ‘Experiencing the Court’ by exploring the senses and the lived experiences of courtly life, whether based in a particular residence or defined by the travels of an itinerant ruler.
The conference will examine life at court and will consider the following questions:
- How can approaching the court in terms of the senses provide new methodologies for understanding each institution?
- How were medieval and early modern courtly spaces adapted and transformed through the movement of material and immaterial things?
- Which particular aspects of political, social and economic infrastructures enabled the exchange of objects and ideas?
- Papers that address new methodologies, the digital humanities, object-centred enquiries, cross-cultural comparisons, or new theoretical perspectives are particularly welcome.
Please send a 150 word abstract along with a short biography to Leah Clark (leah.clark@open.ac.uk)